


The World on Fire

by igrockspock



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Dark Spike, F/M, Post-Season/Series 05 Finale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-19
Updated: 2016-07-19
Packaged: 2018-07-25 10:16:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7528840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/igrockspock/pseuds/igrockspock
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes Dawn remembers what the world was like before she was a girl.  Sometimes she misses it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The World on Fire

In Dawn's dreams, the world burns.

Willow calls them nightmares, and Tara makes potions to soothe her to sleep. Xander says she should talk to someone, maybe the counselor at school. The Buffybot offers to put some marzipan in her pie plate and wanders away with dead eyes. 

So Dawn stops talking about what she sees in the dark. The next time the dream comes, she opens the window and shimmies down the tree. The walk to Spike's lair is long, and Sunnydale's not safe, but the creatures of the night leave her alone for once. Tonight, she's not a real girl.

Spike opens the door for her, just like she knew he would. Maybe he can see something alien in her eyes. Maybe he can smell it.

"What brings you here, niblet?" he asks. His mouth is red, ringed with blood, though his fangs are hidden.

She doesn't know what to say. She closes her eyes, wanting to think, and sees the world on fire again. Her memories of her childhood feel like an illusion -- _are_ an illusion -- and the strange clawed beasts that roam her dreams feel true.

"I see another world when I sleep," she says finally. She doesn't feel like Dawn right now. She doesn't pause, stammer, stare down at her feet.

Spike tilts his head. "What does it look like?"

"Flames. Sulfur. Smoke on the horizon. You know, apocalypse-y things." The words make her Dawn again, and she shivers in her flimsy nightgown. Spike's looking down at her hungrily, and she blushes. 

"Those witches you live with ought to have something for your nightmares," he says, off-hand. Losing interest, she thinks.

"They're not nightmares," she says. "I like them."

Spike's eyes snap up. "You're dreaming of home."

"Home?" she asks, but she can feel the truth of it in her bones.

Spike brushes her hair away from her face, trails a cold finger along her jaw. "You're old, pet, older than time immemorial. This Earth was no paradise when it began. Demons used to walk free in the sunlight. They made it their home. Their hell. You're not dreaming, love. You're _remembering_." His finger's wandering down her neck now, his thumb sliding across her collarbone. "Do you miss it?"

Dawn swallows. "Yes," she whispers. She bites down on her lip, feels it swell under her teeth. "Can you help me remember more?" she asks.

Spike's grin is cold. She can see the tip of his fangs between his lips. "Yes I can, pet. Yes I can."

He steps back, swinging the door open wider, and Dawn walks inside.

**Author's Note:**

> For the Wish Fulfillment Ficathon on LJ


End file.
